Squirrel

Friday, May 31, 2013

This popped out over night. It is an older iris that we see in our country cemeteries and at old farmsteads. It is really one of my favorites over all of the iris including the newer hybrids that are out there.

I see that there are a lot of buds on this one so I should have the flowers last for a long time. The iris shots will be everywhere in my blog now until the peonies start to open.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The first of my two weigela shrubs is starting to open up this week. It will be very showy when more of the blooms get opened. My other weigela is white in color. I researched the shrub and it came originally from China and Manchuria. England was the first country to import the shrub and the one pictured above, weigela Florida, was the one that they first imported. Wikipedia is a wonder place to find out all sorts of things.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

A lot of the iris have dents from the small hail that fell a few days ago. This one is a tough one with the help of a tree acting as an umbrella to protect it. This particular iris does come in the hybrid size but this one is the normal sized plant.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The blooms of this particular viburnum looks like clumps of flower corsages on the different branches. The little flowers have not quite opened yet but it is getting to be time for them to do so. I hope our continual rains destroy them. The heavy rain and hail on Saturday didn't seem to effect the larger white flowers of the corsage.

Monday, May 27, 2013

A rainy windy day here in Iowa. Flooding is a problem in various low places throughout the state. I am glad the morning round of rain is about to pass and we will have a clear day for most of the day. The volunteer maple tree puts out new leaves each year, small and red. The are especially shiny and wet as I took it during a rainy part of our day yesterday.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

I take this same shot each year but I did take it at a different angle this year. The honeysuckle hedge is putting on quite a show this year. We had a slight sprinkle this morning to help keep our moisture up.

Monday, May 20, 2013

A neighbor from the past planted this on the very corner of out alley. It is similar in color but really is stronger in its color than my old fashion one. It is a different variety as the old fashion variety is almost spent for the season. This plant has many wonderful multiple groups of flowers that will be around for most of this week.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

My redbud was in a hurry to bloom this year and I seeing already that it has leaves sprouting out on it. Those blooms will be gone soon. I have apple trees and a neighbors crabapple tree the burst into bloom overnight Tuesday. I needed to get photos but last night was not the night to have it happen.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The lilacs are coming out right now. It is a wonderful thing, they are so beautiful. Then the problem with them is I am all congested and unable to breathe. We can't bring in bouquets so I will just snap photos and they will be scent free.

The other color that I have on the property is this light lavender colored one. They are always later in their blooming cycle than the white ones. The neighbors across the alley have white ones laying on the ground as our heavy snow a few weeks ago broke them down. As soon as we walk out our door we can smell these blooms.

Monday, May 13, 2013

The tulips revived and are now coming close to their end. I went out to take shots and did battle with my batteries. Maybe tomorrow I can find other things to shoot other than tulips. I like how the sun is shinning around behind the garden shed dividing the photo diagonally. I see the bonus of small dandelions are in the photo.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Saturday, May 11, 2013

As soon as the New England bluebells are done blooming the ferns will then fill in the whole area of the bed. It is an old bed of ferns that I did not plant. They have been there every year since I moved in the year 1976. They have spread some but otherwise they continue to do their job along the foundation of the house.

Friday, May 10, 2013

I forget each year where the tulips are until they open up. I then remember that they always were there and I have taken an annual photo of them against the backdrop of the fish tank. I need to clean out the tank a bit and I need to get the water pump going in there. They ended up reporting 3 and a half inches of rain that we received on Wednesday night. I don't have to fill the fish tank as that is all free water.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

I don't rake out this area around the tree. The years of debris from sticks and leaves give it a natural forest area. The plants that are in the garden area all pop up through the leaves with bishops weed, tulips, a couple of peonies, iris and forsythia. I do pick up the large pieces during the year like the log that is laying in the back, otherwise it is a natural spot in the yard.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The neighbor property has this wonderful tree that looks great against this sky. I went over in the afternoon when the light was somewhat subdued. It is now a foreclosed property so I didn't have to ask questions to the owners. It is sad that they property is up for auction. The older couple that planted that tree have been living elsewhere for 15 or more years.

I think there are only two other magnolias in town besides this one. Some owners keep them pruned back and they never get to be a full sized tree.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

This tulip pops up every year in a rough section of my hedge and it looks like a small spot among the rubble. Fortunately the zoom lets me bring in the bloom from over the fence and makes it look like I have a wonderful garden full of flowers.

Deception is the key to having a garden blog when you gardens looks so bad. I have a couple of bulbs of this variety planted elsewhere but they are not as fully in bloom as this one. I have an old high school friend who sees pictures of my flowers on facebook and she keeps asking to bring a bus full of people for a tour of my gardens. I get a laugh from that request off and on through the years.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

A photo taken before our two days of snow. I have other tulips that might show off now as they didn't get flattened to the ground. We have a week of warm weather now promised and that will be welcomed by all. Most of the blooms before the snow are laying on the ground and I hope some will stand up again. I am going to have to mow the yard now as we have had plenty of moisture.

Friday, May 3, 2013

As a young boy I remember seeing the white swirls of frosting on that smooth chocolate frosting. It was perfect and I am sure that the 12 cents that it cost back then was too much for us to pay for a single package of two cupcakes.

The Little Debbie company now follows the same practice of making their products desirable. The cake is sliced in half with frosting placed between them and the machinery to make the decorative frosting on top is perfectly executed each time. I wonder if the cakes move and the frosting dispensers stay still as they are decorated or if the little spouts are hurriedly swinging back and forth as the cakes go down the conveyer belt. The wax they incorporate into the frosting is perfect to make the frosting all stay in its place. Fancy Cakes is the name of the product and they are so delicious with a fresh cup of coffee any time of the day.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

It rained all night blowing the rain against the window making a lot of sound. Around two in the morning it got to be quiet. That quietness was because it was then snowing. The only good thing about this snow is that it doesn't make noise to keep me awake at night.

A band of snow north of us had started earlier in the evening and they are not having school today. There were some late starts of school near us but we just came to school pretending it is the second day of May. I remember in 1957 that our forsythia tree on the farm was in full bloom and on May day it was completely covered with snow.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

It was for sale in a garden catalog that sells cheap plants and poor quality items. The prices are less expensive because you are buying a set of seeds or small sprouts of trees rather than the giant beautiful plant that is exhibited in the colorful photo. It was called a bush cherry. I ordered three of them and only two survived. The orignal stock was the size of a pencil.

After a few years it becomes this large and yes it easier to pick from than when you pick cherries from a tree. The only problem is that they didn't tell me the cherries are so small that when you figure out how to get the pit out of it, there really is not much pulp left to use. I am sure the catalogue showed me a large sized photo of the cherries that the bush produces.

When it does produce fruit which it did not the past two years, I am able to pick the cherries and squeeze the juice out of them in order to make jelly. The jelly is delicious and the work is better because I don't have to pick out the seeds.

Hopefully the one bumble bee that I heard buzzing around the shed two days will help to get them pollinated and the snow we receive will not harm the blooms.